Throughout the summer and fall of 2013, Metro Blooms has been working hard with the Conservation Corps of Minnesota and Iowa to install raingardens in five different neighborhoods in Minneapolis.  The projects were partnerships with neighborhood associations and community members as part of our Neighborhood of Raingardens program.  Some of these partnerships were new this year, and some have been ongoing for the last four years!  Regardless, each of these projects was a success and we hope all of our partnerships continue into the future.

Bryn Mawr Neighborhood of Raingardens:  We installed two raingardens in the Bryn Mawr neighborhood this year.  Why only two?  Fear not, there’s more where that came from.  Metro Blooms and the Bryn Mawr Neighborhood Association have been partnering since 2010 to install a total of thirty two raingardens throughout the community!

East Calhoun Neighborhood of Raingardens: 2013 was the first time that East Calhoun and Metro Blooms have partnered, and we made it count!  Fourteen residents in the neighborhood had raingardens installed to infiltrate 6,571 gallons of stormwater runoff every time it rains an inch.  All of this polluted runoff being kept out of Lake Calhoun helps to improve water quality and clarity.

Audubon Neighborhood of Raingardens: Audubon and Metro Blooms are old friends; we worked together in 2010, 2011, and again in 2013.  In 2010, we started by installing 3 raingardens in the community.  The next year, 10 more.  Add another 15 in 2013 for a total of 28 raingardens! Wowza.

Victory Neighborhood of Raingardens: The Victory and Cleveland neighborhoods were part of Metro Blooms’ first ever Neighborhood of Raingardens project in 2009!  They were great guinea pigs, and we’ve learned a lot since then.  This year we continued our collaboration with Victory to install another 16 raingardens which capture over 8,000 gallons of runoff every time it rains an inch!

Holland Neighborhood of Raingardens: 2013 is the second time that Metro Blooms and Holland have worked to create a Neighborhood of Raingardens and this year we tried to focus the installations around Edison High School, in order to keep with their very “green” focus.  So far this year, we’ve installed 9 raingardens in the neighborhood.  In 2011, 12 beautiful raingardens were installed which means over 20 raingardens are now infiltrating runoff in the Holland neighborhood.

So, four months, 56 raingardens, four Conservation Corps crews, and countless orders of mulch and plants later, five neighborhoods are capturing 27,581 gallons of runoff every time it rains 1″ in the twin cities!  And those are only the raingardens installed this year!  These projects are making a significant impact on the quality and volume of water that reaches our water bodies and we thank each community member that participated for being willing to make a difference!

If you’re interested in a Neighborhood of Raingardens for your community, let Metro Blooms know by contacting Laura at laura@metroblooms.org.  We look forward to hearing from you!